Allow me to clarify regarding the DIA Fdn.
What once began as an agency of change, a foundation dedicated to
artists engaged in projects and strategies that defied commodity status
or simply fell outside the boundaries of prevailing market structures,
has now achieved its own antithesis as a commodities broker
specializing in the reconstitution, reclassification and preservation
of trans-historical artifacts.

DIA’s reversal of mission was concomitant with its reversal of fortune
in the mid-90’s when the foundation was commandeered by entrepreneur
Lenny Riggio. One need only visit DIA Beacon, a veritable Disneyland of
60’s and 70’s art, much of it recreated and frozen in time, to
appreciate the fact that the market never sleeps, and the dreamer only
dreams.

While Spiral Jetty will never post returns to anyone’s bottom line, its
careful administration (preservation) affords DIA something better than
money - profile. (A similar situation exists in the current plans to
restore Michael Heizer’s Double Negative and regulate visitation.) And
profile, in Lenny’s world anyway, is the best and cheapest kind of
advertising. And if that means stopping time, and subverting
provenance, then so be it. It’s worth it, as long as it’s worth it.

Smithson was not an environmentalist by any stretch of the
imagination, nor did he believe there was any such thing as “Nature” -
as something separate and distinct from human endeavor. In fact, the
notion that progress and technology (even in its most egregious uses)
have somehow removed us from “Nature” or set us against “Nature” is
patently absurd, a fiction sustained by arrogance religion, and feeble
reasoning.

Ironically, 50 years ago, Smithson was not only inspired but
strengthened in his resolve by the wreckage and debris that once
greeted the visitor to the site of Spiral Jetty, the wreckage and
debris of a failed oil drilling operation of the mid-20th century. In
his eyes, these things, this industrial junk (now removed - sanitized
in the last few years by the DIA Fdn in the interest of stopping time
for profit)was of the highest aesthetic value, a motivating factor in
his placement of the work.

The cult of preciousness, the very thing Smithson held in contempt
throughout his career, has finally caught up with him; the meaning of
the work has finally been separated from the work itself; entropy has
finally been defeated.
Nancy Holt is wrong. And if Robert Smithson himself were to rise from
the dead and rail against the oil industry I would call him a liar and
a fake.

I have been to Spiral Jetty, and as excellent as that experience was,
it wasn’t the jetty that set me free, it was the intention, faint but
still sensible, like the sound of the sea in a shell.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is out with a statement
on the Spiral Jetty situation. From NTHP prez Richard Moe: "The
National Trust for Historic Preservation believes that Robert
Smithson's Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake is a significant
cultural site from the recent past, merging art, the environment, and
the landscape. We are deeply concerned about the potential harm that
energy development could bring to the Spiral Jetty."

UPDATE 2/1/08: While there are several practical updates on the blogs for those concerned about the potential impact of drilling near Spiral Jetty,

[Via]: The comment period about the Spiral Jetty-impacting energy development
has been extended to Feb. 13. For more information from the state of
Utah, click here. For more information on how to comment, click here.

I just received an email from a colleague of mine informing me that new oil development plans threaten the integrity of Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty.
According to the artist's widow Nancy Holt, a number of pipes and pumps
will be laid beneath the water and shore, as well as roads built for
oil tank trucks, and cranes for other project needs, all of which
promise to severely alter the surrounding environment including Spiral
Jetty.* A call for help is currently being circulated, the protest
deadline, 7 PM ET today. Those wishing to voice their concerns should
email or call Jonathan Jemming 801-537-9023 jjemming@utah.gov. Refer to
Application # 8853.

*Is this in fact the case? I first noticed the story on Tyler Green's blog yesterday (Spiral Jetty threatened by energy development). My
initial reaction was, perhaps oddly, not to man the battlements. (I'll
explain why in a second). Later in the day my Inbox was flooded with
concerned emails from friends, including sculptor Stefanie Nagorka with whom I visited the Jetty in 2002
right after it first re-emerged after many years of being submerged underwater. I found myself writing back
variations of this paragraph:

I saw it too this morning on
Tyler's blog, and I wonder about it. That landscape is anything but
pristine; it has been a site for drilling for decades, it's not a new
thing, and Smithson chose to build Spiral Jetty right next to
the much larger, pre-existing, smelly and foul "oil jetty" for a
reason. One might say it fit well with his idea of entropy. The assertion that re-newed
attempts at drilling for oil in Great Salt Lake would upset the
"natural environment" may well be unfounded -- will it upset the jetty
structurally? Who knows. I think we need more information before we
jump on that bandwagon... Also, access to Spiral Jetty is through Golden Spike National Park, [the site of completion of the first transcontinental railroad... no oil company is going to be allowed to disrupt a National Park --read description of historical significance!] On another note, I think Smithson might
actually have loved the idea of more drilling, which goes back to the 1920s and is part of what defines the terrain. However, he would have been truly horrified by
the idea of turning the place into a museum-ified tourist trap, a
project Dia was batting around a while back... There must be more to
it than this; will see if more info turns up.

The "oil jetty" is mentioned in the directions to Spiral Jetty that are posted on Dia's website (see item 11 below). Note: back in 2002, upon our arrival at the oil jetty, Stefanie and I got out of our rental truck to stretch our legs and take a few pics -- oil jetty and environs is probably one of the most foul, stinking, detritus-strewn patches of post industrial wasteland I've ever had the pleasure to experience. There's no doubt that Smithson was into it, and that it was part of his decision to position the Jetty where he did:

11. At this gate, the Class D road designation ends and the quality of the road deteriorates markedly. If you choose to continue south for another 2.3 miles, and around the east side of Rozel Point, you will reach the Lake and see a jetty (not the Spiral Jetty), left by oil drilling exploration in the 1920s through the 1980s. As you approach the Lake, on your right you'll come across a concrete foundation remaining from a previously demolished structure.

From this location, the concrete foundation is the key to finding the road to the Spiral Jetty. After you drive slowly past the concrete foundation, take the fork in the road to the right up and onto a two-track trail that contours above the oil-exploration area. Only high clearance vehicles should advance beyond the concrete foundation.

I
remember from my visit to the Spiral Jetty years ago. An abandoned
mobile home--all shot up, an old half-buried pick up truck, and the
remnants of a wooden oil exploration jetty that dotted the landscape.
The rusted equipment brought to mind Smithson's Tour of the Monuments of Passaic and the pier Entropy and The New Monuments.
I'm sure Smithson viewed that same dilapidated jetty next to his that
was under construction. I expect thoughts of entropy danced through his
mind too. Thirty years later (after my visit) I've read that Dia has
removed the debris, too impatient for its eventual decay.

For
those who are opposed to all oil drilling on principle, that's another
story. Living among the oil rigs of Long Beach, I'm willing to accept
the anti-aesthetic, for the benefit of oil that hasn't been shipped
from the other side of the planet.

Allow me to clarify regarding the DIA Fdn.
What once began as an agency of change, a foundation dedicated to
artists engaged in projects and strategies that defied commodity status
or simply fell outside the boundaries of prevailing market structures,
has now achieved its own antithesis as a commodities broker
specializing in the reconstitution, reclassification and preservation
of trans-historical artifacts.

DIA’s reversal of mission was concomitant with its reversal of fortune
in the mid-90’s when the foundation was commandeered by entrepreneur
Lenny Riggio. One need only visit DIA Beacon, a veritable Disneyland of
60’s and 70’s art, much of it recreated and frozen in time, to
appreciate the fact that the market never sleeps, and the dreamer only
dreams.

While Spiral Jetty will never post returns to anyone’s bottom line, its
careful administration (preservation) affords DIA something better than
money - profile. (A similar situation exists in the current plans to
restore Michael Heizer’s Double Negative and regulate visitation.) And
profile, in Lenny’s world anyway, is the best and cheapest kind of
advertising. And if that means stopping time, and subverting
provenance, then so be it. It’s worth it, as long as it’s worth it.

Smithson was not an environmentalist by any stretch of the
imagination, nor did he believe there was any such thing as “Nature” -
as something separate and distinct from human endeavor. In fact, the
notion that progress and technology (even in its most egregious uses)
have somehow removed us from “Nature” or set us against “Nature” is
patently absurd, a fiction sustained by arrogance religion, and feeble
reasoning.

Ironically, 50 years ago, Smithson was not only inspired but
strengthened in his resolve by the wreckage and debris that once
greeted the visitor to the site of Spiral Jetty, the wreckage and
debris of a failed oil drilling operation of the mid-20th century. In
his eyes, these things, this industrial junk (now removed - sanitized
in the last few years by the DIA Fdn in the interest of stopping time
for profit)was of the highest aesthetic value, a motivating factor in
his placement of the work.

The cult of preciousness, the very thing Smithson held in contempt
throughout his career, has finally caught up with him; the meaning of
the work has finally been separated from the work itself; entropy has
finally been defeated.
Nancy Holt is wrong. And if Robert Smithson himself were to rise from
the dead and rail against the oil industry I would call him a liar and
a fake.

I have been to Spiral Jetty, and as excellent as that experience was,
it wasn’t the jetty that set me free, it was the intention, faint but
still sensible, like the sound of the sea in a shell.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is out with a statement
on the Spiral Jetty situation. From NTHP prez Richard Moe: "The
National Trust for Historic Preservation believes that Robert
Smithson's Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake is a significant
cultural site from the recent past, merging art, the environment, and
the landscape. We are deeply concerned about the potential harm that
energy development could bring to the Spiral Jetty."

UPDATE 2/1/08: While there are several practical updates on the blogs for those concerned about the potential impact of drilling near Spiral Jetty,

[Via]: The comment period about the Spiral Jetty-impacting energy development
has been extended to Feb. 13. For more information from the state of
Utah, click here. For more information on how to comment, click here.

I just received an email from a colleague of mine informing me that new oil development plans threaten the integrity of Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty.
According to the artist's widow Nancy Holt, a number of pipes and pumps
will be laid beneath the water and shore, as well as roads built for
oil tank trucks, and cranes for other project needs, all of which
promise to severely alter the surrounding environment including Spiral
Jetty.* A call for help is currently being circulated, the protest
deadline, 7 PM ET today. Those wishing to voice their concerns should
email or call Jonathan Jemming 801-537-9023 jjemming@utah.gov. Refer to
Application # 8853.

*Is this in fact the case? I first noticed the story on Tyler Green's blog yesterday (Spiral Jetty threatened by energy development). My
initial reaction was, perhaps oddly, not to man the battlements. (I'll
explain why in a second). Later in the day my Inbox was flooded with
concerned emails from friends, including sculptor Stefanie Nagorka with whom I visited the Jetty in 2002
right after it first re-emerged after many years of being submerged underwater. I found myself writing back
variations of this paragraph:

I saw it too this morning on
Tyler's blog, and I wonder about it. That landscape is anything but
pristine; it has been a site for drilling for decades, it's not a new
thing, and Smithson chose to build Spiral Jetty right next to
the much larger, pre-existing, smelly and foul "oil jetty" for a
reason. One might say it fit well with his idea of entropy. The assertion that re-newed
attempts at drilling for oil in Great Salt Lake would upset the
"natural environment" may well be unfounded -- will it upset the jetty
structurally? Who knows. I think we need more information before we
jump on that bandwagon... Also, access to Spiral Jetty is through Golden Spike National Park, [the site of completion of the first transcontinental railroad... no oil company is going to be allowed to disrupt a National Park --read description of historical significance!] On another note, I think Smithson might
actually have loved the idea of more drilling, which goes back to the 1920s and is part of what defines the terrain. However, he would have been truly horrified by
the idea of turning the place into a museum-ified tourist trap, a
project Dia was batting around a while back... There must be more to
it than this; will see if more info turns up.

The "oil jetty" is mentioned in the directions to Spiral Jetty that are posted on Dia's website (see item 11 below). Note: back in 2002, upon our arrival at the oil jetty, Stefanie and I got out of our rental truck to stretch our legs and take a few pics -- oil jetty and environs is probably one of the most foul, stinking, detritus-strewn patches of post industrial wasteland I've ever had the pleasure to experience. There's no doubt that Smithson was into it, and that it was part of his decision to position the Jetty where he did:

11. At this gate, the Class D road designation ends and the quality of the road deteriorates markedly. If you choose to continue south for another 2.3 miles, and around the east side of Rozel Point, you will reach the Lake and see a jetty (not the Spiral Jetty), left by oil drilling exploration in the 1920s through the 1980s. As you approach the Lake, on your right you'll come across a concrete foundation remaining from a previously demolished structure.

From this location, the concrete foundation is the key to finding the road to the Spiral Jetty. After you drive slowly past the concrete foundation, take the fork in the road to the right up and onto a two-track trail that contours above the oil-exploration area. Only high clearance vehicles should advance beyond the concrete foundation.

I
remember from my visit to the Spiral Jetty years ago. An abandoned
mobile home--all shot up, an old half-buried pick up truck, and the
remnants of a wooden oil exploration jetty that dotted the landscape.
The rusted equipment brought to mind Smithson's Tour of the Monuments of Passaic and the pier Entropy and The New Monuments.
I'm sure Smithson viewed that same dilapidated jetty next to his that
was under construction. I expect thoughts of entropy danced through his
mind too. Thirty years later (after my visit) I've read that Dia has
removed the debris, too impatient for its eventual decay.

For
those who are opposed to all oil drilling on principle, that's another
story. Living among the oil rigs of Long Beach, I'm willing to accept
the anti-aesthetic, for the benefit of oil that hasn't been shipped
from the other side of the planet.